Burma voting in landmark election

Burma was today holding a landmark election that was expected to send opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament for her first public office since launching her decades-long struggle against the military-dominated government.

Burma voting in landmark election

Burma was today holding a landmark election that was expected to send opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament for her first public office since launching her decades-long struggle against the military-dominated government.

The by-election, to fill a few dozen vacant seats, followed months of surprising reforms by a nominally civilian government that does not relish ceding ground to Ms Suu Kyi, but which must appear more democratic in order to emerge from decades of international isolation that have crippled the country’s economy.

Ms Suu Kyi’s party and its opposition allies will have almost no say even if they win all the seats they are contesting, because the 664-seat parliament will remain dominated by the military and the military-backed ruling party.

But if Ms Suu Kyi takes office as expected, it would symbolise a giant leap towards national reconciliation after nearly a quarter of a century in which she spent most of her time under house arrest.

It could also nudge Western powers closer to easing economic sanctions they have imposed on the country for years.

In Wah Thin Kha, one of dozens of poor villages south of the main city of Rangoon, which the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate is vying to represent, hundreds of voters lined up outside a single-story public school to cast ballots in a local race pitting Ms Suu Kyi against the ruling party’s Soe Min, a former army doctor.

Ms Suu Kyi slept overnight in the tiny village and then paid a morning visit to the polling station, driving slowly through a crowd of supporters and into the school compound to inspect voting facilities. She chatted briefly with voters and then returned to her car to begin the drive back to Rangoon.

Most residents in the town are poor, uneducated rice farmers who say that none of Burma’s much-heralded reforms have trickled down to their village, which has no electricity, running water or paved roads. But they hope Ms Suu Kyi can change that.

“We’ve heard a lot on the radio about the changes, but our day-to-day life is the same,” said one voter, Go Khehtay, who cast his ballot for Ms Suu Kyi. “She may not be able to do anything at this stage. But one day, I believe she’ll be able to bring real change.”

Another voter, Mya Thaung, said Ms Suu Kyi represents a dream for a brighter future.

“Life is tough here. We make just enough to survive,” said the father-of-four. “We just hope she can improve our lives.”

Last year, Burma’s long-entrenched military junta handed power to a civilian government dominated by retired officers that sceptics decried as a proxy for continued military rule. But the new rulers have surprised the world with a wave of reform, prompted in part by a desire to get Western sanctions lifted and to come out from under the influence of their neighbour China.

The government of President Thein Sein, himself a retired lieutenant general, has freed political prisoners, signed truces with rebel groups and opened a direct dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi, who wields enough moral authority to greatly influence the Burma policy of the US and other powers.

Her decision to endorse Mr Sein’s reforms so far and run in the election was a great gamble. Once in parliament, she can seek to influence policy and challenge the government from within. But she also risks legitimising a regime she has fought against for decades while gaining little true legislative power.

Ms Suu Kyi is in a “strategic symbiosis” with some of the country’s generals and ex-generals, said Maung Zarni, a Burma expert and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.

“They need her and she needs them to break the 25 years of political stalemate,” Mr Zarni said.

“She holds the key for the regime’s need for its international acceptance and normalisation.”

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